2. Francis Rew Stanton [scrapbook] ""Franny"" was born on 17 Apr 1910 in Evanston, Cook, Illinois, U.S.A.. He died on 24 Feb 1995 in Winnetka, Cook, Illinois, U.S.A.. He was buried on 2 Mar 1995 in Winnetka Christ Church, Cook, Illinois, U.S.A.. He married Louise Kellogg Parsons on 4 Jan 1936 in Chicago, Cook, Illinois, U.S.A.. [Parents]
FRANCIS REW STANTON was born at Evanston Hospital, Evanston, Illinois. He was called "Franny." He grew up at the family home at Winnetka, Illinois, and spent many summers beginning in 1915 at the family lodge on Killaly Point near Desbarats, Ontario Canada, and later at the L Bar T Ranch on the Clarks Fork of the Yellowstone River near Cooke City, Montana, where the family vacationed for many years beginning in 1924.
At Winnetka, he attended Greeley Elementary School (grades K-5), the North Shore Country Day School (grades 6-8), and New Trier High School (grade 9). From 1924 to 1925, he attended The Harris School in the Webster Hotel at Chicago. This prepared him for The Hotchkiss School, a boarding school at Lakeville, Connecticut, where he entered the sophomore class in 1925 and graduated in 1928. At Hotchkiss, he played accordion with the Society Syncopaters and was Drum Major of the Band his senior year. He was also on the swimming and tennis teams at Hotchkiss.
Francis entered Yale in 1928 and, as a freshman, shared the Hugh Chamberlain Greek prize with McCalmont, also a Hotchkiss graduate. He was on the Freshman Tennis Team and the University Tennis Squad for the next three years, receiving a letter in his senior year. In 1932, he graduated with a BA degree with a major in Greek. In 1935, he graduated with a BFA in Architecture from Yale Architectural School. He spent the summers of 1931 and 1934 at the Ecole des Beaux Arts Americaine at Fontainebleau, France. In his final year at the Architectural School, he was made "Grand Massier," which is equivalent to the student head of the school.
He was leader of the Yale Freshman Orchestra and, in his sophomore year, of the Blue Racketeers Dance Orchestra. In 1931, he was a member of Local 234 of the American Federation of Musicians at New Haven. He accompanied Milt Newman and his Yale Blue Orchestra to Europe on the Cunard Line and played accordion and piano. He occasionally appeared at the Roseland Music Hall at Savin Rock, Connecticut, and was billed as "Franny Stanton, The Wizard of the Piano Accordion." He could also play the organ, string bass, trombone, and the E-flat Alto horn. He was an officer of the Chicago Rhythm Club when it was founded in the early 1940's. His large collection of rare 78 rpm jazz records was recorded for the Chicago Jazz Archives of the University of Chicago in 1978.
He worked the summer following graduation in 1935 for R. W. DeGroat & Associates at New Haven, Connecticut. In the fall of 1935 he got a job as a draftsman at Holabird & Root at Chicago. That winter, he started working for Allen & Webster at Chicago.
Francis married January 4, 1936 at Chicago, Illinois, LOUISE KELLOGG PARSONS, born March 11, 1915 at Chicago Illinois, daughter of William Edward and Myra Louise (Matthews) Parsons. They lived at 2457 North Orchard Street in Chicago (1936-1938) before moving to Winnetka at 879 Willow Road (1938-1943) and later at 527 Cherry Street (1944-1963). They now live at 715 Prospect Avenue.
In May 1937, he left Allen & Webster. He was licensed as an Architect in Illinois by examination in July 1937. From August 1937 to December 1938, he worked for Edwin H. Clark & Herbert Banse, Inc. of Chicago. From January 1939 to April 1939, he worked for Philip D. Maher of Chicago who at that time was the husband of his first cousin, Madeline Michelson Maher. In April 1939 he returned to Edwin H. Clark, Architect, where he became a junior partner during the last six months of 1940. In 1941, he became the sole owner of Francis R. Stanton, Architect, Chicago. In 1944, after the death of his father, he sold the family interest in Mrs. Snyder's Homemade Candies back to the Snyder family at Chicago.
From August 1942 to October 1946 during World War II, he served as an officer in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Chicago District Office. He was assigned to the Pressed Steel Car Company of Hegewisch, Indiana, and was later stationed at Camp Ellis, near Macomb, Illinois in 1943. He concluded his service stationed at Chicago and was promoted to Major, C. E., Chief of the Contract Termination Division in 1946.
In November 1950, with his brother Edgar, Francis and Louise purchased half interest in "Victoria House" at Aspen, Colorado. In February 1955, after Edgar's home was completed, Francis and Louise became its sole owner. In December 1957, Francis bought a ranch style house from Robert B. Hurst on Red Mountain. This house was built before 1950 and was one of the first homes constructed on Red Mountain. It was later given the address of 0132 Placer Lane.
In June 1958, he sold Victoria House to Elizabeth D. Ickes. The family spent many summers at Aspen from 1946 until September 1983 when he sold the Red Mountain house to Robert S. West, a tax attorney from Los Angeles, who built a palace on the site in 1991. The house formerly owned by the Stantons was still standing in its shadow in the summer of 1992.
In 1946 with Matthew L. Rockwell and Raymond W. Hazekamp, he formed the partnership of Arkon Associates. In 1948, the partnership was changed to Stanton & Rockwell, Architects and Planners. This partnership, which included Marwood Rupp after 1959, lasted until 1964 when Mr. Rockwell moved to Washington, D.C. From 1964 to his "retirement" in 1989, he was in business by himself as Francis R. Stanton, Architect. For most of his career, he was faithfully supported by Toshio Tokunaga, his draftsman, and Mary Claps, his secretary.
He specialized in residential remodeling, but he also designed several buildings including the Darling Company of Chicago, the U.S. Post Office at Winnetka, and the Christ Episcopal Church at Aspen, Colorado. His office was located at 222 West Adams Street (1946-1955), 23 North Wacker Drive (1955-1961), 20 North Wacker Drive (1961-1971), 4849 Golf Road, Skokie (1971-1980), and at 1845 Oak Street, Northfield (1980-1989).
He was a Director of Eversharp, Inc., of New York City, for 21 years from 1941-1962, and a Director of Belden Manufacturing Company for 31 years from 1949 to 1980.
He was a member of the Yale University Council Subcommittee on Architecture, Painting and Sculpture from 1948 to 1954. Serving with Eero Saarinen, Joseph Albers, George Nelson, Robert Osborn, and others, they updated the entire curriculum of the three Yale departments. He was also a member of the organizing committee of the Yale Festival of Arts at Chicago in April 1956 under R. Sargent Shriver.
Francis served on the Winnetka Zoning Board of Appeals for six years from 1948 to 1954. He was the first representative from Winnetka on the North Suburban Mass Transit District (NORTRAN) from 1971 to 1974. He was Chairman of the Planning Committee from 1973 to 1974, and Vice Chairman of the District in 1974.
He enjoyed billiards and fly fishing, but his favorite sport was tennis. He served on the board of the Chicago District Tennis Association from 1936 to 1942. He has been a member of the Indian Hill Club, Winnetka, since 1936, and was on the board from 1948 to 1954. In 1948 with Edgar Buttenheim, he was ranked as the Number Two Men's Doubles tennis player in the Western Section of the U.S. Lawn Tennis Association. With his mother in 1954, he founded the Ridge and Valley Tennis Club at 2138 Waukegan Road, Glenview, and has been its President and Director ever since.
He was on the Board of Directors of the North Shore Country Day School from 1963 to 1978 serving as President in 1968, 1969, and 1973. He was President of the Alumni Association from 1972 to 1982. During this period, alumni participation in the annual fund drive increased four times and donations increased ten times. He instructed a course in Architecture there from 1973 to 1978, and he was the Tennis coach from 1972 to 1985. In June 1981, he was the first recipient of the Francis R. Stanton Alumni Recognition Award. In December 1989, he was the recipient of the Foster Hannaford Recognition Award for distinguished service to the school. He has been Vice-President of Alumni Giving since 1985.
3. Louise Kellogg Parsons [Parents]